Leipzig get first Bundesliga win with Keïta goal against Borussia Dortmund

Leipzig’s Naby Keïta celebrates scoring the winner and only goal of the game in the penultimate minute against Borussia Dortmund.
Photograph: Jens Meyer/AP

In a duel between one of Germany’s most popular sides and arguably its most hated, Naby Keïta struck late as Leipzig stunned Borussia Dortmund for their first Bundesliga win on Saturday.

The midfielder Oliver Burke set up his fellow substitute to grab the winner with one minute remaining, sparking wild celebrations among the home fans. Leipzig, unpopular among rival fans who see the club as a marketing tool for the energy-drink manufacturer Red Bull, matched last season’s runners-up for intensity, and suggested they are in the Bundesliga to stay. That’s the club’s stated objective for its first season of top-flight football, before Champions League qualification becomes the target.

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While Leipzig have enthusiastically embraced the concept – the city is the first in the former East Germany to have a top-flight club since Energie Cottbus were relegated in 2009 – opponents resent their commercial side and short history. The club was founded in 2009 when Red Bull rebranded the fifth-tier side SSV Markranstädt and financed their speedy promotion as a new entity through the lower leagues.

Some Dortmund fans refused to travel to Leipzig for the game, which was nevertheless sold out. Leipzig’s sporting director Ralf Rangnick said the club could have sold twice as many tickets.

Mario Götze looked lively in his second debut for Dortmund after returning from Bayern Munich, but it was his fellow Germany international Andre Schürrle who went closest in the first half, shooting just wide of the right post about half an hour in. Leipzig mostly frustrated Dortmund’s speedy forwards and threatened before the break through Marcel Sabitzer and captain Dominik Kaiser, who first played for the side in the fourth division.

Timo Werner was foiled by a good save from Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki late on, and Schürrle struck the crossbar at the other end, but it was Keïta who was to secure Leipzig’s first win with his late intervention.